Sniping Cobra
by The Tooth Fairy
Summary: HPYGO. The Dark Spirt Bakura. A nameless child with big green eyes. The Shadow Realm. The Ring. A name given. 'Rami means 'Sniper' in Arabic. Naja is Latin for 'Cobra'.' Dark!Insane!Powerful!Odd!Harry. No chance in hell of him going to Hogwarts.
1. Prologue: Wrongness in the Air

_**Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor YuGiOh.****

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**Quote:** Have you noticed that people can sometimes do the impossible

because they don't know it's impossible?_

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Darkness._

"Who're you?"

"Who're _you_?"

_Silence. Then…_

"Uncle Vernon calls me losta things, but they're not very nice. I dun 'member what me name is, if I even 'ad one, so you can call me whatever you want."

Red eyes glanced around, as if to assure himself that the two were still standing in the outer limits of the Shadow Realm. Once assured, he turned back to the big green eyes of the young child before him. "I have many names, but most recently I have been called 'Bakura', after my previous host, Ryou Bakura." He regarded the small boy in this between place. "Why are you here, boy? This is not the place for a child."

The pale little triangle that was the face of the boy was the same alabaster white as Bakura's, and was topped by a cloud of hair the same colour of the shadows around them. The eyebrows that hung over the huge, glittering bottle-green eyes like elegant slashes of darkness were pulled in as the boy frowned, chewing his bone-white lower lip as he looked around. Bakura noted idly that, while not ugly, the boy couldn't be called beautiful either because of the striking caste to his features and slight build. Rather like the face of one of the more humanoid Shadow Monsters.

The thief put the boy at five or six, while others would put him at three or four because of his size, but Bakura had a lot of experience with small, malnourished 'street rats' as they were once called. At the moment, the boy was wearing an oversized thread-bare t-shirt of nondescript colour that hung to his knees and off one pale shoulder, partially revealing a hand-shaped bruise around his upper arm.

The boy turned back to Bakura and smiled, revealing a set of sharp children's teeth. "I'm here because I was wondering what you were doing. I haven't been able to see you for a while now, and you always look lonely."

Bakura got the vague impression that he should be surprised, but all he was able to rouse was a mix of apathy and mild curiosity. "You have seen me before?"

The boy nodded cheerfully, not at all perturbed by the shadows curling around his ankles. "Yup. I send my inside-self out to watch you when…" The smile slide off his face and the looked reminded Bakura of the look of Ryou's face whenever he had been brought up in conversation, but somehow worse. The boy shuddered before continuing, smile back in place. "This is the first time you've seen me, though."

Bakura watched the boy's beaming place for a few moments before he sighed. "Why would you want to watch me?"

"Because you're so strong. You don't let anyone push you around. When I grow up, I want to be just like you."

"_-just like you."_

"_-just like you."_

"_-like you."_

Bakura jerked in surprise, his eyes widening and eyebrows shooting up. "_Why?"_

The boy looked down. "Because…if I were like you…I would be able to fight back…and they…they wouldn't be able to…" The boy shuddered again.

Bakura understood what he was trying to say. Or rather, he got the gist of it. There was nothing the Tomb Thief hated more than child abuse. He could stand killing children, hell,_ he'd_ killed children, but to prolong a child's suffering and let them live with it screwed them for however long they had left.

The distance between the two was closed with two swift strides, and Bakura found himself crouched before the startled boy, hands on his small shoulders. "Tell me where you are and I'll come and get you."

"Number 4 Privet Drive, Surrey."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "What country?"

"England."

Bakura pondered for a moment. He, himself, was currently wandering the underbelly of New York. He'd only come to the Shadow Realm to make human offerings to the shadows to ensure that his physical 'body' didn't run out of power and unravel itself.

"I'll be there in three days. Until then, wear this." A replica of the Millennium Ring appeared in the pale, long-fingered hand. Bakura carelessly hung it around the boy's neck. "It'll let me know if you're being hurt, and I'll send a monster to protect you. It'll also help me zone in on your location. Now, shoo. It's too dangerous here for the unwary."

The boy smiled and Bakura turned and walked towards the edge of the Shadow Realm.

"Rami Naja."

Bakura heard the boy jump. "Huh?

"Rami is Arabic for 'sniper', and Naja is Latin for 'cobra'."

Bakura faded into the mortal realm, followed by the sound of the boy's whisper.

"Thank you."

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	2. Chapter 1: Don't Fear The Darkness

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or YuGiOh (**wish i did cause the characters are cool and i'd be rich. ;)**

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**Quote:** What does not learn does not change. What does not change does not live.

What does not live does not die.

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A figure in a blood red trench coat appeared at the end of a street in Surrey, England, labelled 'Privet Drive'. The figure excluded an almost tangible aura of killing intent as it glided down the empty street towards the house it could feel Dark Necrofear in.

Bakura was pissed beyond imagining. Pissier even than when the Pharaoh put up that ward that kept him away from Ryou. Those…those-SCUM-had tried to hurt what was his. HIS DAMMIT!

Hopefully Dark Necrofear hadn't destroyed her victim's minds too badly; Bakura wanted a piece of them too. He didn't hold out much hope, though. As an abuse victim when a human, Dark Necrofear hated child abuse just as much as Bakura did; possibly more so.

The brown ankle-boots padded softly up the path to the door of Number 4 and nudged the door open. He was immediately hit by the stench of fear and blood.

Bakura proceeded down the dark hall, not bothering to turn on any lights. They'd just ruin his night-sight. He didn't event stumble as he stepped over what was once, presumably, a woman's mutilated corpse.

Somewhere in the house was the sound of heavy, terrified breathing. Bakura paused. It appeared to be coming from the cupboard under the stairs.

The yami then proceeded to ignore the sound and continued into the kitchen, where he once again paused as something thick and slimy landed on his shoulder. It appeared to be a glob of coagulated blood. He looked up at the ceiling.

Bakura padded back down the hall and turned up the stairs. If the almost-dead body splattered across the kitchen ceiling was any clue, Dark Necrofear was getting creative.

**(space)**

There was only one light on in the house; a child's bedroom. In this bedroom did a strange creature resemble a bald, blue skinned elf-like woman clothed in oddly made armour sit, her dull golden eyes starring fixedly at the wall opposite her. All the while she crooned in a metallic hum to the bruise-covered form of the sleeping boy she cradled in her arms. Needless to say, this woman appeared very out of place, seated as she was on the brightly-clad bed in the well-lit, brightly coloured room.

The woman's head turned in a precise, robotic movement when the door opened and her Master entered. He stopped and stared right back at her for quite some time, the woman's crooning a continuous hum in the background. A question appeared to hover in her blank, empty eyes.

Bakura turned and left the room, fading into the darkness as his voice ghosted from the shadows. "You may stay with him tonight. I always intended to take him with me when I leave in the morning."

Dark Necrofear turned to stare at the wall once again, her crooning getting softer. She felt grateful that her Master let her stay with the boy tonight. He reminded her of a little white-haired boy she had held so long ago in her complete human form.

But that was gone.

Akefia wasn't her fragile little surrogate brother anymore.

The crooning continued until dawn.

**(space)**

The police arrived two days later after neighbours started complaining of a bad smell.

Petunia Dursley appeared to have died where she fell. Vernon Dursley, however, wasn't so lucky. He had been tortured and somehow stuck to the ceiling of the kitchen where he died several hours later. Their son, Dudley Dursley, had been locked in the cupboard under the stairs for two days and a night. He spent five years in a mental institution, and even after that, he had therapy for another ten. He's still badly claustrophobic.

There was no sign of the nephew who was supposed to be in the custody of the Dursleys, and this irritated the wizards looking for him to no end.

He was never found.

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	3. Chapter 2: A Palace Of Lies

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter of YuGiOh._**

To reviewers:

DarkenedProngs: I'll update whenever i get a chapter done.

Karen: The other YGO characters probably won't make an appearence until he's fourteen or so.

Peppymint: He may be no one's pawn, but he's sure as hell not gonna be anyone's master anytime soon.

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_**Quote:** I swear the drunk I'm not God._

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Rami was by no means a normal child, even Bakura acknowledged that.

Rami was a small child, standing at barely 4'6 at age eleven. He was quiet as a ghost and just as pale with his bone-white skin tone, big mournful green eyes and long straight black hair that fell to his waist. He was almost fey-like in appearance; his face a sharp flat triangle, his long willowy hairless limbs and the dark curtain that billowed and curled around his body in a non-existent wind. He seldom wore more than a pale oversized tank top cut-off at his waist, allowing it to float around his frail torso ethereally, and a pair of heavy khaki short-shorts. It was seldom he wore shoes, but when he did, he wore only simple leather sandals.

Oddest and most frightening about Rami's appearance was the scar. It was by no means 'small'. It was, in fact, nearly a metre long, and the only physical memento he had left from _Those People_ as all the other marks had faded. It was a nasty, ropey thing starting above his right eye and curving over the eye-socket, down the left cheek, across the left side of his pale-grey lips, down his chin and neck, snaking like a rope across his chest before turning north above his heart and slinking over his left shoulder to hang down his back, fading away just above his tailbone. It had been caused by a stock-whip wielded with considerable force.

Overall , he was a very…disturbing child, who seldom acted anything even reminiscent of a child; or human for that matter. He stared blankly into space most of the time and reacted to questions asked by anyone other than Bakura slowly, speaking in a soft, breathy whisper. He reacted very badly to being touched by anyone other than Bakura and Dark Necrofear, and couldn't stand being away from one without the other for more than a half-hour. As one could possibly understand, Rami was not very healthy mentally or emotionally, and, as such, was heavily dependant on Bakura for stability.

This instability made it impossible for him to attend school even if Bakura had stopped to allow him to attend. So that left Rami's schooling to Bakura and various Shadow Monsters and humans they came across during Bakura's footloose wanderings. The two were seldom in one place for more than a few weeks at most, so that left Rami's education fragmented but varied. By eight, Rami had learnt the basics of 23 languages and mastered four, he could read and write tolerably well in thirteen of these languages, and could read five dead languages. He knew the basics of several musical instruments, though he only owned a flute and a pair of home-made panpipes.

After he had gotten lost when he was seven, Bakura had given him a pair of Ninja-to. The Ninja sword was perhaps their most consummate weapon. In style it looked like a Wakizashi, albeit slightly longer and with a straighter blade. Its scabbards featured a removable end-cap so it could be used as a breathing tube or blowgun. A cord was wound around the scabbards and could be used as a rope. The handle of the sword itself featured a secret compartment, holding blowgun needles, or an eggshell grenade. When he was actually serious about it, which he always was, Rami could made masters of the weapon look slow and lenient. His best time was 9 slashes a second.

In the field of magic, he was able to summon up to seventh level Shadow Creatures, his Deck Master being the Serpent Night Dragon, banish souls to the Shadow Realm, which also fell under Soul Magic, declare a Shadow Duel and create use his deck like Tarot cards as Bakura did. In the field of Soul Magic, as before, Rami could banish a soul to the Shadow Realm, he could remove a soul from its body and seal it in an inanimate object, he could astral-project (which usually didn't happen until late-twenties, early forties), and he could soul read. With Mind Magic, he was able to enter the minds of others and stop others from entering his own. He was especially good at Mind Wipes, false memories and hallucinations, but his specialty was what was called a 'Palace Of Lies'.

A 'Palace Of Lies' was essentially an entirely false persona triggered by a key phase. When this key phase was uttered, a conditioned mind would totally believe any scenario placed within the mind, and the persons own mind will automatically provide an answer or memory to any question asked of them. It was called a 'Palace Of Lies' because it mimicked a complex Soul Room with numerous hall and doors; every time new information was required, another door would open. It was used on both spies to thwart other mind-readers and to brainwash enemies. It could even be used on oneself.

And that is why, when the time came, Rami went to a school for gifted and Talented students who, for whatever reason, would not be accepted in other schools. Magic Schools that is.

**(space)**

The Magic World. The Wizard World. The World of Wonder. Hole in the Ground. Call it what you will, but Bakura still thought the whole wizarding government system was screwier and more corrupt than that of the Romans after Julies Caesar kicked the proverbial bucket.

Bakura was currently in the office block of the Ministry of India's Education Facility. And these idiot wizards were really starting to piss him off. He had been there for _four fucking hours._

And what was he doing there?

He was looking for a magic school for Rami. He personally thought the idea of sending their children to learn magic at eleven was screwier than their government.

"Ahem…Ah yes. We seem to have found the list of schools perfect for your son." The moron on the other side of the desk gave Rami, who was seated to Bakura's left, a 'You-Stupid-Little-Boy' smile. Rami gave the man The Eyes™ ...and a mild palpitation. The man paled a bit and took a step back.

The man, whose name happened to be Nigel White, an unfortunate man with an unfortunate name, was an Englishman by birth who had escaped England in the First War (Bakura had no idea why they called it that when there had been hundreds of wars before it, many of them a hell of a lot more important. This was just one of the things that reinforced his belief in wizarding stupidity.).

But I digress.

Nigel White liked to think he was brave. Key word: 'Think'. In reality, he was a snotty, butt-kissing coward. Now, the Kid. The file given to him by the boy's father (And he did note they looked nothing alike. The man looked barely eighteen, for Circie's sake!) told of an exceptionally talented, not to mention powerful, individual, if a little fudged up mentally. '_But then, with a guardian like **that**…'_ Nigel's thought trailed off.

But the _actual boy_... This kid was creepy. And those eyes. That scar. The kid looked like a fragging _vampire _(not that Nigel had ever _seen_ a vampire. Rami looked much more undead than any old vampire.). The scar was intimidating, but the way the kid was looking at him. There was nothing there; just empty, pitying apathy. They were old.

Nigel shook his head and smiled, passing it off as children's theatrics. Stupid bastard. He looked back at his hand, only to find the list missing. A frantic glance around caused him to relax. The man, Bakura Naja, was looking at the list. He must have given it to him while was out of it. Once again, stupid bastard.

Bakura was ignoring the man, having no further use for the twit. He brought a new meaning to the term 'Nigel No-Friends' (NA: No offence intended to any one called Nigel. It's just a kid's teasing thing.). Bakura's red eyes glanced over the list. It was short.

_**School List:**_

_**Stormhaven**: Located in New Jersey, America. 8 year schooling._

_**Freefall Academy:**Located in the Himalayas. 7 year course._

_**Darkfall** **Institue for the Gifted**: Located in Germany. 6 year coarse._

_**Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: **Located in Scotland. 7 year coarse._

_**Shadow Gardens:** Located in the Sahara Desert, Egypt. 10 year coarse._

**_For more information, please inquire at the school in question._**

"Huh." Bakura stood, dumped his consultion fee on the desk and headed for the door, list disappearing into his pocket. Rami ghosted after him, eyes once again vague.

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	4. Chapter 3: Gardens in the Desert

**_Disclaimer: As much as I wish it was otherwise, I do not own Harry Potter or YuGiOh._**

**_To my Reviewers!_**

**_Ok, soI changed my mind. But only the Ishtars, mainly Malik, will be in it for a while. Hey, I really only doing this by ear._**

**_He will not, never, under no circumstances attend Hogwarts, not even in a non-existant exchange program. He may meet some of the original cast in later years, but he might not. I have yet to decide._**

**_In regards to his scar, it overlaps and hides the original scar. And just so you know, it's not a big red thing, it's a big whitish thing 'cause it faded over time._**

**_Suggested names for characters are welcome. Hell, make your own character and send it in, and chances are your person will appear. You can even decide if they'll be friend or foe. Applications close by the sixth chapter. Thank you for your cooperation. Have a nice day. ;-)_**

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Bakura had indeed sent away for more information via a few summoned Skull Red Birds. If they thought he'd spend money on owls, they had another thing coming. 

With the information that was sent to him in his dingy hotel room, he was able to eliminated Hogwarts, Darkfall and Stormhaven. Hogwarts because it sounded like a goody-goody prep school with no privacy, not to mention English wizards were ranked as a eight on Bakura's 'Who To Eliminate' List (especially after that thing with the runaway broomstick). Rami was highly sensitive to the cold so Darkfall was out. Stormhaven was an Elitist school and Bakura, and therefore Rami, never could stand authority.

So that left Freefall Academy and Shadow Gardens.

Freefall Academy was a compound based on the blue-prints of a long forgotten Roman university. The walls were white-washed and there were numerous water-features throughout the grounds, totally paved with white stone and gold. Bakura found the Academy sickeningly Light-oriented, but they did offer some of the best education in the world, and maybe their healers and mind-mages would be able to help Rami with his demons.

Shadow Gardens also appeared to be a likely candidate. Not only was it located in what was once the Pharaoh's Palace (which tickled Bakura's sense of irony), time was also stopped in the school grounds on the brink of sunset to allow for the non-human students who happened to be sensitive to direct sunlight, leaving the vast desert gardens in flame-red half-shadows. Each student was granted a room, single or shared, depending on request and reasons given, which world be protected by the student/s living in that room. The students would be given the same room each year unless a change was requested on reasonable grounds and they were given the option of remaining at the Gardens throughout both summer and Christmas holidays. The choices of classes taught were all selected for practical reasons, as was the curriculum. For example, Charms was not taught until third year, and didn't teach anything that would be essentially useless or would cause the student to come to depend on it, for instance; the cleaning charm discouraged manual labour, which in turn discouraged humility. Shadow Gardens taught anything form Herbology to Survival Training to Transfiguration to Science Physics. Unlike other schools, Shadow Gardens taught muggle-related subjects, which was considered highly unusual. One of the reasons the Gardens was so small was because, while discouraged, it was not unlikely for a student to kill or permanently injure another student.

Out of the two, Bakura was inclined to choose Shadow Gardens for obvious reasons. However, unlike the other schools, interviews with the prospective children was used to weed out candidates who were unlikely to succeed, were too squeamish or were likely to use the knowledge to deliberately harm innocents.

So. This was the incentive for Bakura to try to get Rami into this school, since we all know how competitive the thief is.

(**space)**

Rami was bored.

He knew his Master was sending him to a magic school. He had asked why and Bakura-sama had told him that it was not only compulsory for magically-inclined children to attend these special schools once they turned eleven. And besides, Bakura-sama had said, you need to learn these things and I don't really have all that much time or inclination to teach you, since I was born before most of these things were even discovered, let alone taught.

Though still, Rami had to admit Shadow Gardens was nice. It was all red and black. Like a room with only a fireplace for light. The air smelt like warm, dry sand, shadows and various dry-climate plants. Somewhere, he could hear a gurgling water-feature. It was peaceful.

An ethereal song cut through the air, and both Bakura and Rami looked up into the perpetual evening sky to watch three phoenixes dance and play, flame-travelling in their game of tag. A few moments later, Bakura moved on down the open-wall sandstone corridor. Rami followed.

Several minutes later, Bakura and Rami drifted to a stop in front of the Headmaster's office. Bakura knocked below the plate on the door which read 'Headmaster Malik Ishtar'.

Bakura had snorted in amusement the first time he saw the name of the headmaster. He didn't tell Rami why and Rami didn't ask.

"Enter."

A small smirk drifted across Bakura's lips as he entered the room, which, if memory served, once belonged to the Priest Mahaado. Behind a sandstone desk was a man with long hay-coloured hair and dark golden skin. The man glanced up, revealing icy-lavender eyes, before he looked down at the papers again.

After a moment the man froze, as if hit by an epiphany. His head snapped up and his skin paled a little.

Malik couldn't believe it. The being he and the other Item Holders had been searching for, for nearly ten years was standing in the doorway of his office, looking like he'd barely aged at all. There was a pale flicker behind the red and white of the dark spirit, whom Malik just realised hadn't moved since entering the room, the expression on his face showed nothing but boredom. Pale eyes flickered to the flicker and widened.

There was a child standing in the thief's shadow like a monochrome doll of black and white. The only colour in the child was the red light from the 'sun' and the dark forest green of his eyes. As he stared at this child, this boy, he made out a nasty scar. Malik's eyes flickered to Bakura when he moved forward towards the desk, and realised he had been staring.

As Bakura sat, Malik wandered if he was hallucinating from stress, because, once seated, the child crawled onto the Darkest Spirit in Existence's lap. A shudder went through Malik as he noticed the dull sheen of the Millennium Ring laying against the boy's chest.

"So," Malik almost jumped out of his skin at the sound that came from the thief's mouth. The voice was the same; like dark molasses laced with cyanide. "We are here for the interview required for my boy to be enrolled in your school."

Malik glanced at his planner. Yep, an interview under the name Akefia Naja, for his son, Rami Naja. Malik had read the file on this boy's education, and had been looking forward to meeting this child whom he had hoped would be a worthy candidate for the upcoming school year. Now he was positive the kid would get in. Malik didn't want Bakura coming after him for denying Rami entrance.

"So you're using Akefia Naja now? What gave you that idea?" Malik asked, trying to gather his wits. Was it just him, or was it dead quiet outside?

Bakura blinked gracefully. "Akefia in the name I was given at birth." Malik blinked. He hadn't known that. "Naja is the second name I gave to Rami when he found me. He didn't have a name before I gave him one."

When he saw the hidden puzzlement in Malik's face, he elaborated. "Rami had been astral projecting to escape the body long before he found me in the Shadow Realm half-way around the world when he was six or so." He was vaguely amused when the man across from him paled to an almost sickly shade as the implications set in. He had caught the under-toned reason for the astral projection.

Rami lifted his head slightly from Bakura's shoulder and fix Malik with his old eyes. "They were bad people."

Malik swallowed. "I see." He would have to try and corner Bakura about this later, if Bakura didn't corner him first. To save face, Malik slipped into 'Headmaster Mode' and began to enquire about Rami's education and special needs. The interview lasted for an hour or so, before it was decided that Rami was more than capable of being accepted into Shadow Gardens. Malik had to hold in a wince when Bakura suggested someone show Rami around the school while he and Malik 'ironed out the details'; read, try to milk each other for information.

Malik once again looked sickly when Rami wandered of with the Healing Professor, Minako Katsuragi, Dark Necrofear in tow.

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	5. Chapter 4: The Dark Hunters

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or YuGiOh**_

**_To my Reviewers:_**

Yes. Rami was once Harry.

No. Yami won't make an appearance for quite some time, if ever.

No. They will probably never learn Rami's real name.

And shadow dragon04, if I portray Shadow wrong, let me know and I'll fix it.

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_**Quote**: Duct Tape is like the Force. It has a Light Side. A Dark Side._

_And it holds things together._

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"Did thee, Oh Angel, fall from Grace?" 

The girl whipped around, obviously startled. Normally Rami would have just ignored the girl and moved on to do some exploring on his own after dumping his guide, but this girl roused his curiosity.

The girl was tall, very tall for someone her age, and built like a legendary heroine...or villain. This girl looked like an embodiment of Shadow Gardens with her black blood-tipped hair and _Cado Angelus_ wings, her dark, snake-scaled _Vesica Atrum Venator_ tail lashing behind her and those big golden cat's eyes narrowed in a hard glare as she bared her teeth in an angry snarl. _Really all she needs are pointed ears, fangs, horns and claws and one might mistake her for a pure-blood Arch-Demon,'_ Rami noted idly.

"Don't mock me, human, or you'll end up like the rest of the fools I've gutted."

Rami blinked lethargically, not at all disturbed by the hybrid's ire. "I mock thee not, for I have not a reason to do so. I know not thee. Thou knowest not I. I mock not those whom I have yet to form an opinion of, and I have not yet enough information to form an opinion of thee, Lady Fallen."

The girl relaxed her aggressive stance slightly, obviously confused by the boy before her.

"Rami! Where are you?"

Dark Necrofear glided into the small, enclosed garden with the grotto in the corner where her boy was standing before a non-human girl who was, like nearly everyone Rami conversed with, obviously confused; not knowing wether to attack the obvious threat or leave as fast as possible.

Rami turned and wandered off in the direction of the frantic Professor Katsuragi. "Judge not, and ye shall not be Judged."

(**space)**

Rami and Bakura had left Shadow Gardens several hours ago, and were drifting through the Cairo wizarding district, called Hourglass Bazaar. Rami was going to return to the school in three days to get settled in before the other students who had left returned. It was decided by Bakura that Rami would be getting one or more large and protective magical pets who would protect him and give him comfort. Malik wasn't game enough to say no to the nice psychopath.

So here the two were, wandering down a side-street that sold nothing but exotic pets, muggle or otherwise. The two wandered down the narrow street, ignoring the vendors screaming out their wares, seldom taking an interest in any of the pets until Bakura heard what, to the untrained ear, sounded like a child screaming.

Bakura's head snapped around so fast that he nearly stumbled into a stand. He moved towards the sound smooth and fast; a murderer on a mission.

What Bakura was looking for was at the far end of the street in a dirty corner. Ignoring the grimy, toothless vendor, Bakura homed in on a pair of small cages barely a foot high and two-and-a-half feet long, and the creatures inside. The thief sat back on his heels, honesty shocked at what he saw. He could have sworn this particular species was extinct.

In the cages were a pair of what appeared to be black hounds of the shorthair variety, and would have stood at thigh height. What the average person wouldn't know just looking at them was that these hounds were just puppies barely old enough to be away from their mothers. They were what the Ancient Egyptians had called Anubi because of their similarity to Anubus in dog form. The Anubi, renamed _Curator Niger Canis_ by the Romans, were used by Priests to guard temples because of their massive size, nearly as big as a small horse, their ferocity, their intelligence and their unwavering loyalty to their masters. If memory served, the Pharaoh had had a pack of twelve at his beck and call. Bakura knew well that the Anubi's belling sounded like women screaming; he'd been chased by them often enough. One of their many abilities was the ability to walk through walls, which had irritated the hell out of the adolescent tomb raider.

Bakura looked at the vendor so fast that the toothless man jerked back. "How much for the two dogs?"

The vendor perked up. He'd been trying to sell the mongrels all week, but no one wanted dogs that sounded like screaming females. And they were vicious to boot.

"Two Galleons for the pair."

"Done." Bakura paid the man, called Rami to him, grabbed the cages of the Anubi and apparated to a hotel room Bakura had booked earlier.

Once the room had been sound proofed and Rami was showering to wash away the dust from the Bazaar, Bakura untied the doors of the cramped wicker cages.

The thief had to literally lift the whining pups out of their cages, weak and emaciated as they were they couldn't even stand properly, their long legs spread and shaking from the effort to stay standing, elegant vulpine heads hanging.

Even given the state of the two, if the vendor had known what the pups were, even one would have costed at least a hundred Galleons, possibly more.

After observing the pups for a moment, Bakura got a large bowl of water for them. He left and came back a few minutes later with four plucked chickens, two of which were through to the pups and were immediately torn into.

By the time Rami had gotten out of the shower, the pups had been sated and were starting to doze. Alas, their slumber was not to be as Bakura promptly dragged the dusty, flee-infested dogs into the bathroom.

It was a little over half-an-hour that Bakura finally relented his war on fleas and let the now clean and dry puppies sleep.

He looked at Rami, upon whose lap the puppies dozed. "You should name them."

Rami fondled one of the puppies' ears. "Venator, I think." He said in regards to the puppy with floppy ears, "And Latro." Rami referred to the one with the scar on his chest.

The evening passed quite pleasantly, the puppies stirring only every so often, and the silence in the room was comfortable.

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	6. Chapter 5: That Kid's Kinda Creepy

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing pertaining to Harry Potter or Yugioh._**

**_To my Reviewers:_**

Bakura gave Harry the name Rami Naja because he didn't know what his original given name was. That was pretty much told in the prologue.

BTW, it's late cause I haven't had access to a computer with the net for a while.

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_Quote: I'm not insensitive; I just don't care._

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It was a nice room, and it was the first one that Rami had ever really been able to call his own. Bakura had stuck around to help him unpack until what was equivalent to 6:00pm when he had left to do his night's worth of skulking. Bakura had made it quite clear that if Rami ever needed him, all Rami had to do was send a summons through the Ring. 

Rami's apartments, granted to only those who paid significantly more than the average student boarding fees, were on the second story facing to the east to avoid the light during the 'night' and was made up of four good-sized rooms and a balcony. The room that one entered into through the corridor door was what Bakura had turned into what he called a 'formal sitting room'.

The sitting room, as all the rooms were, was made of hard-packed sandstone usually given a rosy hue from the 'sunset'. Curtains of red, black and purple hung from the walls in a drape-y fashion while a large woven mat covered the floor. Upon the mat was a low, polished dark wooden table surrounded by wine red, dark purple and royal blue sitting cushions. The right wall opened onto the balcony via a pair of caged wooden doors. Light was introduced into the sitting room via a number of flames suspended around the room, sustained by bowls of oil hanging by chains from the ceiling.

To the left of the door was an archway leading into Rami's sleeping quarters, which could be closed off by a pair of the curtains hanging from the sitting room's walls, making it appear that there was no door at all. As opposed by the stuffy sitting room, the sleeping quarters were airy and uncluttered. Aside from the built-in sandstone bed with its gold-tan satin sheets and gauzy mosquito nets, there was only an antique dark-wood wardrobe and dresser against the wall, the wardrobe between the other two doors opposite the continuing balcony doors and the dresser to the right of the sitting room door. In the corner was a pile of blankets and a couple of bowels for Rami's Anubi. Several large, leafy green pot plants stood in various positions around the room. There were several open-shelves around the room holding various books, weapons and knick-knacks Rami had collected on his travels; some magic, some not. On the dresser were a modified boom box and fifty or so CDs.

The third room, the through door closest to the sitting room door, was the bathroom. The bathroom was lit by witchlights, which gave off a purer light than fire or electric lights. The bathroom consisted of a large walk-in raised pool the size of a spa with water that was perpetually warm and clean. Predictably, this took up most of the room, but still left enough room for a toilet and basin. This room, too, was decorated with both potted and hanging plants; indeed, there was a three-inch deep ditch running around the edges of the floor of the room from which creeping plants climbed the walls, giving the room a jungle-y feel.

The last room, not a very large room as such and keyed to open only to Bakura and Rami's soul-signatures, was Rami's 'Widow's Den' as one of his teachers had called it. A Widow's Den was a workroom of sorts, containing a wide variety of jars, bottles, bowels, herb-grinders, knives, books and a set of cauldrons. Most of these were simple, easy and not so easy to come by potion ingredients, equipment and tomes used in class. These were situated on shelves lining the room from floor to ceiling, leaving only just enough room at the end of the small 'hall' for a worktable and chair. However, hanging above the desk was a cabinet; a dark-wood cabinet whose doors depicted a large carved Black Widow. In the event that someone actually got into the room without Rami or Bakura's permission and tried to open this cabinet, the spider would come to life and attack the person or people, leaving them paralyzed or dead. But that's not the point; the point is that there was a cabinet, and in this cabinet were seventy little bottles and jars holding a variety of poisons, both organic and inorganic, plant or animal based, all in alphabetical order and labeled in hieroglyphs. Also in the cabinet were several items that Bakura wanted hidden, up to and including the Millennium Eye.

Overall, there were twenty-four assorted weapons stashed in easily accessed places around the apartment and twelve deadly or crippling wards placed in web-formation around the apartment, topped-off with a Tangled Web ward which was activated if the one it was keyed to died within the bounds of the Web. If activated, the Tangled Web used the magic generated by the death of the person to destroy the souls of those who killed or helped to kill that person.

(**space)**

Right now, Rami was coiled on his bed reading a book, Venator and Latro, slightly bigger, better behaved and definitely more healthy, were once again laying all over him. Bakura had been gone for two hours and Rami was already pining for him.

A 'Ting!' echoed through the apartment, alerting the dark child that someone was knocking on the door. Frowning, Rami padded into the sitting room, Anubi following at his heels, and towards the door. A quick spell momentarily made the door see-through from the inside, allowing Rami to identify the caller. It was the Headmaster, Malik Ishtar, followed closely by the girl he had met on his first visit.

He opened the door to see what they wanted.

Malik still didn't know what to make of this boy Bakura had picked up. The kid was scarily reminiscent of a colder version of himself at that age. And those _dogs_. When Bakura had told him what they were, Malik had had what they thought were three consecutive minor heart attacks and been rushed to the medical wing. The bloody things were supposed to have been wiped out by the British in 1792, but once again Bakura had done the impossible and located a pair of them, a male and a female, so they would probably end up procreating later in life.

No wonder the Pharaoh hated him so much. Bakura had to be the only person on the planet who screwed everyone over and came out on top more often than the Pharaoh himself…unless it was against the Pharaoh, that is.

Malik was jerked out of his irritable thoughts when the door opened enough for a dark green eye to appear.

"Yes?"

Malik did his damnedest to smile at the creepy kid. "I just thought you might like to know that dinner will be starting in five minutes. It wouldn't do to have you starving yourself before term even starts." _Not to mention Bakura said he'd hang me up by my heels and skin me if I didn't keep an eye on you, _Malik added mentally.

The eye blinked and the door opened further to allow the boy and his dogs out. A hand was placed on the door and a complex glyph flared blue on the door.

Once again the boy was in one of his cut-off tank tops, though this one was black, and he'd traded in his shorts and sandals for tight black cotton hipsters and boots. Granted, Malik once again felt ill thinking about all the power the kid had access to when he noticed the Ring almost glowing on the boy's chest. Bakura appeared to also have commissioned charmed chest-protectors for the hounds.

Green eyes turned to the girl beside the Headmaster and scrutinized her as she was doing him. Rami observed idly that their outfits almost matched. This time the girl's long hair was in a high ponytail, which he knew from experience, would probably give her a headache in an hour at most.

"How rude of me," The girl's bright gold eyes and the boy's black-green ones flicked to the blond Egyptian. "This is one of our Fifth Year girls, Shadow Nexus. Shadow, this is one of our new First Years, Rami Naja."

In proper Japanese fashion, Rami bowed stiffly from the waist in greeting. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Nexus."

Startling the hell out of Malik, the usually rude Shadow unfolded her arms and returned the gesture. "The pleasure is all mine, Mr Naja."

The two regarded one another again for a moment before Rami gave a Peter Pan Smile. "You may call me Rami."

Shadow returned the smile with one of her Half-Smirk Half-Smiles. "Then you may call be Shadow."

"How about 'Shad'?"

Shrug. "Suit yourself. The Main Hall is down this way."

Malik felt a preminitional shudder run down his back as he watched two of the most dangerous students in the school wander down the corridor together, debating the uses of Boomslang eggs as opposed to those of an Ashwinder in a Dispelling Potion, the hounds padding a step behind their master and Malik left behind to ponder what had just happened.

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pleez review. And remember, you only have one more chapter to get your very own character put into my story. Cheers! ;-) 


	7. Chapter 6: Rami's Social Skills Suck

**_Disclaimer: I dun own YuGiOh, Harry Potter and some of the characters which belong to other people._**

_Sorry it took so long, but there was an Apocolypse down the street and one of the Four Horsemen got hit by a car in front of our house, so...yeah, busy._

**_Reviewers:_**

**_IfI got any of the characters wrong, let me know and I'll fix it, but some of the physical descriptions were lack so I improvised. Sorry if I mutilated some of them beyond recognition. Any character not in this chapter will probably turn up next chapter._**

**_The thing with Rami being clingy, Bakura would have kept him around even if he didn't care, if only because Rami beleives that everything that comes out of the Yami's mouth is as God's own words. I mean, a psychopath would probably keep someone around if they killed for them on command, right?_**

**_Voldemort? Why should Rami care about some second-rate psychopath he's never heard of running around in a country where Bakura-sama said the wizards are idiots? It will come in though. Probably in the second year and brief mentions here and there._**

**_Triwizard Tournament? Eh, Maybe._**

**_Dumbledork has been looking for 'Harry Potter' for years. And he will be for years to come._**

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_Quote: 'In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.' _

_Ya gotta love Murphy's Law_

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Rami was bored…and snarky…and paranoid. If Rami had any less self-control, he would be twitching violently. There was nothing Rami loathed more than the word and definition of 'Unpredictable'. To Bakura, and, through learnt behaviour, Rami, 'Unpredictable' was like a curse word and thus all people who fit this description are to be avoided like the Plague.

Case in point: Cayden Aelyth; a small twelve-year-old eleven months older than Rami andanIrish fey half-blood. His hair was a mass of spiky sunset-orange falling around a pale heart-shaped face dominated by oddly tilted honey-coloured eyes, a pert little nose, and an insane grin which bared pearly white, slightly elongated canines. Big pointy ears poked out from the reddish mess and twitched every now and then. The white 'demonic' bunny situated on his head was definitely odd, especially when he mentioned his name was 'Chu'. Overall, Rami was reminded of this guy from a Japanese Anime he'd see once; Jin the Windmaster or something, just minus the horn. (1)

Rami liked green. He also liked orange. And purple. Just not together. Cayden was decked out in all three. Green pants and over-vest, bright orange shirt and bruised purple neck-chief, gloves and sneakers.

Somewhere through the first ten minutes of breakfast, Rami had found the little redhead next to him and motor mouthing about his seven older siblings, how he was the only one to get in and how his parents were sooo proud of him. Rami had found himself blinking stupidly at the boy for several seconds before trying to ignore him.

As far as Rami could tell, the urge to start twitching started about ten minutes after the dark-haired boy finished his breakfast and sat waiting for his timetable. As soon as he received it, the sniper left for his room as fast as he could without running.

Once in his room, he paused to study his schedule.

**TIMETABLE**

**Each period lasts fifty minutes. There are six periods in a day starting at 8:40am and finishing at 3pm. Lunch is between 12:35am and 1:20pm. There is a brief recess between 11:20 am and 11:50am.**

**MONDAY**

Science

Math

Recess

Double Potions

Lunch

Survival Training (Theory)

Physical Education (Theory)

**TUESDAY**

Double Science

Recess

Latin

Herbology

Lunch

Magical Theory

Potions

**WEDNESDAY**

Double Survival Training

Recess

Tools and Artefacts: How To Use Them

Potion Ingredients and Their Effects

Lunch

Latin

Math

**THURSDAY**

Double Magical Theory

Recess

Double Math

Lunch

Double Art

**FRIDAY**

Double Survival Training

Recess

Tools and Artefacts: How To Use Them

Potion Ingredients and Their Effects

Lunch

Double Magical Beings: Races and Creatures

Rami got his book, his hounds and his dignity before taking off for his first class, hoping that he could avoid the Irish boy for the rest of the day.

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Don't ask how it happened, please don't, because Rami didn't really know, himself, how it happened that Cayden was seated beside him in both Math _and _Science. Something about the psychotic redhead just irritated him, making him loom about in a dangerous fashion – not that the Irish kid noticed this. Cayden chattered on and on insanely, switching from subject to topic at random, and with this terrifying energy; he dramatized _everything_ that didn't need to be dramatized. What he'd do if the end of the world came around, Rami didn't want to know.

All he could do was pray for second period gong to boom.

Aside from the chatting redhead (who had cooed and petted them before going on about a dog he'd had when he was six), only one other student hadn't stayed as far away from Venator and Latro as they could and still be in the same room. The girl hadn't even glanced at the two as she sat at the desk to Rami's right.

During role call, Rami learned her name was Tsuriai Kage. From her name, Rami deduced she was from Japan or thereabouts. Her long silvery was tied in a tight braid to reduce heat, her pointed ears, smaller than Cayden's, poked out between some stands while the braid was pulled over her shoulder to avoid the stupid British pureblood wizard looking for trouble seated behind her. Purplish-blue eyes of a strangely gem-like hue flickered to and from the teacher as her vaguely silvery skinned hand jotted down notes. But however pretty the girl appeared, what caught the boy were the wings-or rather, what looked like wings. Rami was under the impression that they were physical manifestations of her power locked in a natural force-field shaped like wings. The simple white robe and pale blue sash suited her.

Despite her calm, almost stoic, exterior, Rami was just waiting for the girl to turn around and ram the tip of her quill through the pure-blooded brat's poking hand before asking the boy for it back as he lay screaming. Youkai, and he was almost sure she was one, were inherently prone to acts of violence and sadism; it just depended on the youkai's level of control, race, gender and reason.

Rami's impressions were usually right. Unfortunately for everyone wanting a distraction, the teacher also shared Rami's insight and moved the stupid child to the front.

As soon as the gong for recess went off, so did Rami as he scrambled to get away from Cayden. Though on the way out, he could have sworn Tsuriai smiled.

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Potions was a disaster waiting to happen. Not only was he trapped working with Cayden and Tsuriai (who really wasn't that bad), the Potions Professor, Adjo Menetnashté, was uncannily reminiscent of hunting Bakura. Very scary.

He announced that the groups they were in now were the groups they would stay in for the rest of the year. Even scarier.

"Furthermore," Adjo proceeded to inform the class with a threatening smirk, "If any of you stuff up this ridiculously easy potion," He pointed to the Low-Level Boil-Reducing Potion on the board, "You will find yourselves with two month's detention and a ticket to see the Headmaster." Beware the Anti-Hero.

And for some reason, Rami had a bad feeling about all of this.

Rami was good at Potions and he payed attention to what the teacher said and he hated people who got soap bottles stuck on their hands. So usually the only time he messed up was when he didn't care or when the little voice in his head said that something's a pretty good idea. The little voice is him.

And Tsuriai was good at potions. He didn't know if she thinks some of the things she did were good ideas or not, but she said one time she got a kid's hand to glow bright green in the dark for a month. Rami didn't know if that was on purpose... or not.

Cayden... well, there are a lot of explosions around the redhead. Usually a student wouldn't be allowed to even touch a Bunsen burner with his submitted track record, but he was manipulative. So he got to blow things up to his little heart's content and the teachers smiled at him like he was playing with a harmless little puppy. Terrifying.

That bad feeling from before... when Rami saw the materials being handed out, he didn't think much of it. When they started the potion, he didn't think of it much. When they set Cayden's books on fire and melted the already battered table, well, he thought about it long and hard.

In the office.

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Finally! Fuck, they acted like the three of them blew up the school, not a table. Actually, they melted it... Rami vaguely wondered how the hell _that_ could happen. Or how they managed to do that with supposably harmless materials... Coricalas Stomach Acid: Bad.

Plus Rami almost ended up having to go to therapy when he accidentally swore at the voices in his head out loud then proceeded to tell Malik and Adjo about them. As you can guess, Rami's social skills suck. Miracle of miracles that Tsuriai the wonder girl was there with him. They all got out with a small amount of fuss in time for lunch.

Rami spotted Shadow and made a beeline for her as soon as he entered the hall. Shad gave him a smile as he sat down and pressed against her side for comfort. It appeared that his new friends, or rather, friend and clingy walking disaster, had followed him.

"So…Rami, how were your first few classes here at Shadow Gardens?"

Rami looked up and gave Cori Hikari a low-level 'You're-Irritating-Me-Be-Quiet' Glare™. He dropped his head back onto the table.

Cori was one of Shadow's very limited actual friends and she had gotten on with Rami in an almost eccentric sisterly way. It wasn't that odd that he liked her though, because, let's face it, he was drawn to odd people with bad backgrounds. And Cori was most definitely odd. Imagine, if you will, a short girl with a well curved form, crimped blonde hair streaked with orange, red and blue and poofed up like she stuck a fork into an electrical socket, odd amber-orange eyes sharply accented with kohl and dressed like an electrocuted and demented Strawberry Shortcake reject. I.e. A slashed, frilly burnt orange knee-length dress with multiple multi-coloured petticoats, black and orange striped socks to the knee, shiny black buckle shoes and fingerless off-white lace gloves. Rami, now quite good at reading eccentricities, figure she was going by the Principle of 'Look-At-The-Clothes-And-Not-At-Me'. At first glance, no one would put her at fifteen.

Cori gave him an encouraging smile very different from her usual 'Hyper-Scary-Fairy' Grin™. "Don't worry. It can't be that bad."

"Shadow! Cori! You'll never guess what!"

Rami couldn't say he knew Selena Marti, but he could stand her. She was a middly person with no real clique, which wasn't to say she wasn't popular, but she was definitely a bit vague and on the ditzy side, but Rami wasn't sure if it was because she was absentminded or just ADD. And then again, Sirens were said to be somewhat flighty.

She was pretty, he would give her that, but among the magical races, one was either pretty or some variation thereof, or ugly as sin. It was rare that one was plain-looking, and that usually came with muggleborns. Selena was Spanish, part Siren and part human, and very passionate from both sides. If Rami had been any more emotional that a particularly dispassionate rock, he would have freaked out when, on meeting him, Selena had hugged the boy, clasping him to her bosom as she cooed about how cute and adorable he was. And he had noticed her ogling Bakura-sama in the hall before he left the week before.

Selena was very physically mature at thirteen, with her café latte skin tone, sparkly deep brown eyes, wavy raven hair hanging about her shoulders and her ample but lithe figure. She usually wore a billowy peasant shirt and knee-length shorts, shoes varying.

Which, while ponder the girl's state of dress, sent Rami off on another tangent. Why was it that no one above first year was wearing the _entire_ school uniform _properly,_ if at all.

"-some poor first years got two months detention with Professor Menetnashté already!"

Shad and Cori hissed in sympathy. Unfortunately, Cayden decided to speak up.

"Hey, Rami! Raaamiii?" Rami twitched with his head now buried under Shadow's arm. "Isn't that the guy who sent us to the Headmaster when we melted that table in Potions?"

There was a moment of silence before Tsuriai's whack to the head sent Cayden's skull careening into the table-top, Chu flying through the air to hit the back of the vampire sitting two metres away's head.

Shadow lifted her arm to look at Rami. "My deepest sympathies to you." She lowered her arm.

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(1) From Yu Yu Hakusho. Jin's sooo cute 

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